Manipulator for rolling mills



Mar. 6; 1923. 1,447,274

C. W. BENJAMIN MANIPULATOR FOR ROLLING MILLS Filed A 1?, 1918 4sheets-sheet 1 s Q3 O "a v L1 a I: canton Mar. 6, 1923.

C. W. BENJAMIN MANIPULATO R FOR ROLLING MILLS 4 sheets-sheet 2 Mar. 6,1923.

C. W. BENJAMIN MANIPULATOR FOR ROLLING MILLS Filed Aug. 17, 1918 4sheets-sheet \EQ M1 D E E E: Q p I FI Mar. 6, 19-23. 1,447,274

C. W. BENJAMIN MANIPULATOR FOR ROLLING MILLS Filed Aug. 1'7, 1918 4sheets-sheet 4 ,Izwerzfw? Patented Mar. 6, 1923.

UNITED s'rarss PATENT OFFEQE.

CHESTER W. BENJAMIN, 0F LAKEWOOD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE WELLMAN-SEAVER-MORGAN COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

MANIPULATOR FOR ROLLING MILLS.

Application filed August 17, 1918. Serial No. 250,377.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, CHESTER W. BENJA- MIN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Lakewood, in the county of Cuyahoga and State ofOhio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Manipulatorsfor Rolling Mills, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to a manipulator for rolling mills and has forits chief object to provide a manipulator including side guards whichare designed to be moved laterally over the feed table, together withturning bars which move with one of the guards and are designed to turnthe work on the rolls of the table, the whole being so constructed andarranged that the parts are readily accessible for repairs orreplacement and are practically free from the effects of falling scale.

The further object is to so design the parts of the manipulator that theguards can be moved laterally over the rolls and the turning bars orfingers actuated to turn the work without requiring that a heavycomplicated mechanism be moved.

The still further object is to provide a manipulator with turning barsso supported and operated that they are more effective than the priordevices for turning the work on the rolls.

Still further, the invention aims to provide in connection with the feedtable of a rolling mill, a manipulator which is eflicient and durable aswell as economical in design as far as materials and parts areconcerned, and readily and easily controlled so that movements ofdesired extent and direction can be imparted.

The invention may be briefly summarized as consisting in certainnoveldetails of construction and combinations and arrangements of partswhich will be described in the specification and set forth in theappended claims. Y

In the accompanying sheets of drawings wherein I have shown thepreferred embodiment of my invention, Fig. l is a. top plan view of aportion of the rolling mill showing the table at one side of thereducing rolls and the manipulator associated with the table andembodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view; Fig. '3is 'a view substantially along the line 55 of Fig. 1, looking in thedirection indicated by the arrows; Fig. 6 is a detail View partly insection and partly in elevation showing particularly the turning bars,the latter being shown by full lines in the lowermost position and bydotted lines in an elevated position to which they are moved inturningthe work.

The rolling mill includes the usual reducingrolls, on each side of whichis a feed table composed of a series of rolls 10 supported in the sideframes 11 of the table and operated preferably by bevel gearing 12 inthe customary manner. Only one of the two feed tables is shown, it beingunderstood that the. table on the opposite side of the rolls will belike that here illustrated.

Arranged to move laterally over the rolls 10 of the feed table, at rightangles to the axes of the rolls are two side guards 13 and 14, the chieffunction of which is to shift the work laterally on the feed rolls so asto position the work for the desired pass of the reducing rolls. Theseside guards are preferably made heavy and rigid enough that they can beutilized to straighten the work should it be curved or bent by passingthrough the reducing rolls.

Each of the two guards is supported and actuated by two horizontal armsor beams 15 serving as guides, which extend laterally outward from thecorresponding side guard. The rear end of each of these guard-supportingarms 15 has rollers 16 which engage flanges of a track beam here shownin the form of a casting 17 which is at the side of the table andextends laterally outward therefrom at right angles to the table. Theforward portion of each guard-supporting arm 15 carries a roller 18 (seeFig. 2), which travels over a track 19 formed at the top, a spacer 20extending between the side frames 11 of the feed table, two of suchtracks .and spacers beingutilized. j

The guard-supporting arms 15 are moved back and forth so as to shift theguards laterally over the rolls of the table by motor actuated rack andpinion mechanism, including pinions 21 engaging rack teeth 22 on thelower faces of the guard-supporting arms 15. The pinions at each side ofthe table are fixed to a shaft 23, suitably journaled in bearingssupported by the castings 1.7 (see Figs. 1 and 2). In this instance eachshaft 2 is rotated through reducing gearing 24- by a counter-shaft 25,which through reducing gearing 26 is driven by a stationary motor 27,which is preferably an electric motor, although a motor of any othersuitable type may be employed, and in fact, other means of rotating theshafts 23' may be utilized.

Each side guard is actuated in precisely the same manner and by themechanism described, the same reference characters being utilized andthe same description applying to similar and corresponding parts on bothsides of the table it being understood also that the two guards of thetable are similarly supported as well as actuated.

it was heretofore stated that a table simi lar to that shown would beprovided at the opposite side of the reducing rolls 10, which table willbe provided with side guards similar to the guards 13 and 14c. Inpractice it is desirable that the guard at one side of one table and thecorresponding guard at the side of the opposite table be maintained inalignment and actuated in unison through the same motor. To that endeach shaft 23 is-connected to a similar shaft extending along the tableon the opposite side of the reducing rolls. The manner in which this ispreferably done is shown in Figs. 4 and 5, which show the shaft 23connected by a pair of pinions 28 to a lower shaft 29 (see also Fig. 1),which will be connected by pinions similar to 28 to a shaft similar toand in alignment with shaft 23 and designed to be provided with pinionsto operate the guard in alignment with the. guard 13 or 14:, as the casemay be.

Thus it will be understood that by operating the motors 27 either singlyor in unison the two guards of each table will be moved back and forthover the rolls to position the worlv. for the desired pass of the rollsand to straighten the work if it becomes necessary.

In ad .ition to shifting the worl: .aterallv on the rolls by the guardsabove described it is customary to provide one of the guards of a tableat one side of the reducing rolls (or one of the guards of each of thetables if it is desired to turn the work at each side of the reducinrolls) with turning bars or equivalent devices for turning the workthrough an arc of 90. The mechanism which I provide for this purposeandwhich is here shovvn, -associated iifi j the gll-t 14 constitutes animportant part of the present invention it being understood that workturning means such as here shown, may be provided on one or both sidesof the reducing rolls as circun'istances require.

To turn the work on the rolls of the table I provide a series of turningbars 30 which are designed to be moved in vertical planes in grooves onthe front face of guard 1 1- and each of which is provided with ashoulder 3O which is normally beneath the top line of the rolls 01' thefeed table, these bars being designed to be elevated so that theshoulders will engage beneath the work in the manner as shown in 2, andturn it as illustrated in that figure. the turning bars being shown inFig. 2 in about their middle position.

The manner in which these turning bars are mounted and actuated is ofconsiderable importance these bars in accordance with my invention,being supported or suspended by a series of upper arms 31 pivotallyconnected to the upper ends of the turning bars and by a series of lowerarms 53 pivoted to the lower ends of the turning bars. The outer ends ofthe series of upper arms 31 are separately pivotea at 33 to brackets orthe like mounted on a cross arm 3 f extending between and secured to thetwo arms 15 which support the guard A this cross arm 34 being parallelto and at the rear of the guard 1e and, of course. moving inwardly andoutwardly with the guard. The outer ends of the series of lower arms areseparately pivoted at 35 to the lower side of this cross arm 34.

The turning bars 30 are raised and lowered by a horizontal bar 36 whichis just beneath the upper series of arms 31 and is designed to be raisedand lowered so as to lift the arms 31 or lower them and when raised andlowered moving in parallelism. For this purpose the ends of the bar 36are pivotally connected to arms 37 secured to the forward or inner endsof two rock-sha ts 38 and 519 which are parallel to and direc l .v abovethe arms 15 which support the side 5. "rd 1 t. These rock-shafts 38 and39 are iourn....ed in bearings 40 carried by these n'uard supportingarms 15 and more inwardly and outwardly with the latter. and their rear(lids 38 and 39 which are squared a e slidiog'ly supported by stationarybcariu in" min Ported at the outer ends o the r'ls or ast-- ings 17.

The rock-shafts and R9 a e ruched to gether so as to swinethe aver: 37to raise or lower the bar 36. as the case may be. through mechanismincludioa' a s ationary motor tl connected by reducing u 9 to a shaft 43(see Figs. 1 and 3) which i is mounted on a cross beam 454;. extendii ibetween the. outer ends of the castings or beds 1". over which travelthe arms 15 supporting the guard 14. This shaft has a crank which isconnected by a rod 46 to the lower part 47 of a double armed crank whosehub or middle portion receives with a sliding fit, the outer squaredpart 38 of the rockshaft 38, this double armed lever being held frommovement longitudinally with the rock-shaft 38 but rocking or rotatingthe same as will be subsequently explained.

The upper part 48 of the double armed lever is connected by a diagonallyextending rod 49 to an arm or lever 50 similar to and parallel with thelower arm or part 47 of the double armed lever. This arm or lever 50 hasa hub with a squared opening which receives with a sliding fit the outersquared end 39 of the rock-shaft 39..

Thus both rock-shafts 38 and 39 will travel with the side guard 14: andarms which support and actuate the same, and in so doing are guidedthrough the double armed lever 47, 48 and the lever 50, but when it isdesired to turn the work on the feed table through the motor 40 and thedescribed mechanism the two rock-shafts will be turned simultaneously inopposite directions and equal amounts, elevating the arms 37 at theforward ends to these rock-shafts and lifting the bar 36 whose ends havea pin and slot connection with the said arms 37 so that when the arms 37are elevated the bar 36 will move upwardly freely. The continuousrotation of the crank results in the lowering of the bar 36 followingthe elevating of the same. When the bar 36 is elevated in the mannerdescribed, it engages and lifts the upper series of arms 31 connected tothe upper ends of the turning bars 30, in conse quence of which theturning bars 30 are swung upwardly and inwardly slightly. This inwardmovement of the turning bars combined with the upward movement, is ofconsiderable importance, for it prevents the turning bars sliding offthe lower corner of the work while in the act of turning it. Similarly,when the turning bars are lowered by the mechanism described. they swingdownwardly and outwardly to the full line position shown in Fig. 6. Whenin this position, the shoulders 30 are above the top of the feed rollersand the upper reduced portions of the turning bars are back of the frontface of the guard 14.

As here shown, the lower series of arms 32 are of approximately the samelength as the upper series of arms 31, so that a figure formed by thepivotal points of the arms 31 and 32 forms an approximate parallelogram,though this is not necessary to the operation of the mechanism.

Not only are the turning bars given a movement which is admirablyadapted to turn the work on the feed table, for the reason explained,but that part of the mechanism which actuates the turning bars andwhichmoves forwardly and rearwardly with the guard, is much lighter inweight though none the less efi'ective than the major portion of themanipulators in use at the present time, and in this respect also, myimproved manipulator has an important advantage over prior mechanism.Additionally the parts are so located that they are not affected byfalling scale and can be readily reached and repaired or replaced withother parts, if necessary.

I do not desire to be confined to the exact details shown, but aim in myclaims to. cover all modifications coming within the scope of thefollowing claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a manipulatorincluding a side guard adapted to be moved laterally over the feedtable, a plurality of turning bars for turning the work on the feedtable, said turning bars being mounted for endwise movement in verticalplanes, and means for imparting to the upper and lower portions of eachof the turning bars a positive upward and inward movement and a positiveoutward movement when lowering.

2. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a guard movablelaterally over the feed table, a plurality of turning bars adaptedtoturn the work on the table, and two sets of swinging arms supportingeach of said turningbars.

3. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a plurality ofturning bars adapted to turn the work on the table, two sets of swingingarms supporting each of said turning bars, and means for swinging saidarms toimpart to the turning bars an upward and inward movement inturning the work, and a downward and outward movement to normalposition.

4. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, turning barsfor turning the work on the table, and means for supporting said turningbars comprising upper and lower sets of swinging arms connectedrespectively to the upper and lower portions of each of the turningbars.

5. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, turning barsfor turning the work on the table, means for supporting said turningbars comprising upper and lower sets of swinging arms connectedrespectively to the upper and lower portions of each of the turningbars, and means for actuating the upper set of arms to elevate theturning bars.

6. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a guard movablelaterally over the feed table, supporting guides for the guard extendinglaterally outward from the feed table, turning bars movable laterallywith the guard and adapted to be elevated to turn the work on the table,means: mounted on the guides at the rear of of the guard for supportingthe turning bars, and means for actuating the turning bars.

7. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a guard movablelaterally over the feed table, supporting guides for the guard extendinglaterally outward from the feed table, turning bars movable laterallywith the guard and adapted to be ele vated to turn the work on thetable, means mounted on the guides at the rear of the guard andindependently thereof for supporting the turning bars, and devicesmovable with the guides for actuating the turning bars.

8. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill having laterallymovable guards. guides extending laterally outward from the table andsupporting the guards, turning bars movable with one of the guards, anupper set and a lower set of arms pivot-- ally supported by the guidesand connected respectively to the upper and lower portions of each ofthe turning bars and means for positively turning one set of the arms.

9. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill having laterallymovable guards, guides extending laterally outward from the table andsupporting the guards, turning bars movable with one of the guards, anupper set and a lower set of arms pivotally supported by the guides andconnected respectively to the upper and lower portions of each of theturning bars, and means movable with the guides of said guard andindependent of the latter for actuating the lifting bars.

10. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a guardmovable laterally over the table, guides supporting the guard andextending laterally outward from the table, turning bars for turning thework on the table movable laterally with the guard, and means forelevating the turning bars comprising a rock-shaft at right angles tothe guard and operatively connected with the turning bars.

11. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a guardmovable laterally over the table, guides supporting the guard andextending laterally outward from the table, turning bars for turning thework on the table movable laterally with the guard, and means forelevating the turning bars comprising a rock-shaft associated with oneof the guides and extending longitudinally thereof, said rock-shaftbeing operatively connected with the turning bars to elevate or lowerthe same.

12. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a guardmovable laterall over the table, guides supporting the guard andextending laterally outward from the table, turning bars for turning theworlr on the table movable laterally with the'guard,

means for elevating the turning bars comprising a rock-shaft movablewith one of the guides and extending longitudinally thereof, saidrock-shaft being operatively connected with the turning bars to elevateor lower the same, and means having a sliding connection with the rearportion of the rockshaft for rocking the same.

13. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a guardmovable laterally over the table, guides projecting laterally outwardfrom the table, turning bars movable with the guard and supported formovement in vertical planes at the front thereof to turn the work, andmeans for elevating and lowering the turning bars comprising a pair ofrock-shafts extending longitudinally of the guides and movabletherewith, said rock-shafts being operatively connected with the turningbars to shift the same.

14. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a guardmovable laterally over the table, guides projecting laterally outwardfrom the table, turning bars movable with the guard and supported formovement in vertical planes at the front thereof to turn the work, meansfor elevating and lowering the turning bars comprising a pair ofrock-shafts extending longitudinally of the guides and movabletherewith, said rock-shafts being operatively with the turning bars toshift the same, and a motor connected to the rock-shafts tosimultaneously rock the same.

15. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a guardmovable laterally over the table, guides for said guard projectinglaterally outward from the table, turning movable with the guard andsupported for movement in vertical planes at the front thereof to turnthe work means for elevating and lowering the turning bars comprising apair of rock-shafts extending longitudinally of the guides and movabletherewith, said rock-shafts being operatively connected with the turningbars to shift the same, and a stationary motor having operativeconnections with both rock-shafts, said connections being slidinglyrelated to the rack-shafts so that the latter may move forwardly andrearwardly with respect thereto.

1.6. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a guardmovable laterally over the feed table, guides projecting laterallyoutward from the guard and supporting the same, turning bars movablelaterally with the guard and adapted to be elevated at the front of saidguard, arms pivotally connected to the turning bars and pivotallysupported at the rear of the guard, a bar extending beneath said armsfor raising and lowering the same, and means for moving said barvertically.

17. In combination with the feed tableof a rollingwill, a guard movablelaterally connected over the feed table, guides projecting laterallyoutward from the guard and supporting the same, turning bars movablelaterally with the guard and adapted to be elevated at the front of saidguard, arms pivotally connected to the turning bars and pivotallysupported at the rear of the guard, a bar extending beneath said armsfor raising and lowering the same, and means connected to the ends ofsaid bar for raising and lowering it.

18. In combination with the feed table of a rolling mill, a guardmovable laterally over the feed table, guides projecting laterallyoutward from the guard and support ing the same, turning bars movablelaterally with the guard and adapted to be elevated at the front of saidguard, arms pivotally connected with the turning bars and pivotallysupported by the guides at-therear of the guard, a bar extending beneathsaid arms for raising and lowering the same, a pair of rock-shaftsextending parallel to the guides and connected to the ends of said barto raise and lower it, and means for rocking the rock-shafts.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto afliX my signature.

CHESTER W. BENJAinN.

